The present invention relates to a pluggable module and, more specifically, to a pluggable module for a high performance heat removal device interface assembly.
In optical data transmission for servers, switches and other equipment, the physical design of the optical transceivers has generally been a challenge since heat often needs to be effectively removed from the transceiver to extend laser lifetime without sacrificing interface performance.
An optical transmitter, receiver or transceiver typically has three basic interface types. They include electrical inputs/outputs (I/Os) for power and data transmission or reception, optical I/Os for transmitted or received data and a thermal interface for removing heat generated in the device. In modern, high-performance optical transceivers, each of these three interfaces may be pushed near to their technical limits where, for example, the electrical and optical interfaces operate at bit rates of 25 Gb/s and faster, with very low loss and very good signal integrity, and with the thermal interface removing enough heat to keep the optical transceiver at a moderate temperature improve long-term reliability. Indeed, lasers are sensitive to heat and will degrade and fail quickly if allowed to operate at elevated temperatures.
Technical challenges of all these interfaces are made more difficult due to the fact that, for long-term overall system-level reliability and upgradability, optical transceivers frequently need to be “hot pluggable,” which means that it must be possible to easily insert or remove them while a corresponding system is in operation. Previously, this has been achieved by the development of “small form-factor pluggable” (SFP) mechanical designs for transceivers and cable connectors. These modules incorporate good, high-speed electrical connectors, and are large and physically robust enough to house optical transmitter and optical receiver components (e.g., lasers and photodiodes) along with interface electronics and management electronics.
However, the mechanical interfaces for cooling of these modules are generally not well optimized. Optimized cooling of an optical transceiver module requires very close contact with a heat sink, through a thermal interface material (TIM) with high heat conductivity and good conformance to the module. In the SFP designs, a design for a high performance heat sink that provides excellent heat removal while also preserving easy hot-pluggability of the devices or cables is not yet available.